Dezeen's new Climate Salon podcast explores how designers and architects can help us pursue "radical sustainable living"
We always scan the design and architecture site Dezeen, as they have a strong theme around sustainable design. So we’re delighted to profile their new podcast, Climate Salon, a six-part series talking to architects and designers about how they can create towards a better climate impact.
Their first episode - embedded above - features: designer Tom Dixon, Siv Helene Stangeland, founder of Norwegian architecture firm Helen & Hard, and design software company SketchUp's Sumele Adelana:
And here’s some reportage from the podcast, excerpted from Deezen’s blog:
In the first episode, the panel touched on topics including the role of designers in educating consumers and clients on the potentials of more sustainable materials, how co-living could offer a more sustainable model for housing people, and the continued importance of upholding the basic principles of designing long-lasting and appealing homes and products.
The panel agreed that sustainable practices need to be championed by leadership, whether within architecture practices or in government.
Describing the situation within architecture practices, Adelana stated: "if there are no champions right at the top, then the team that works within these practices either has to be highly interested in delivering sustainability, so that they do it as an add on to the work that is already required of them, or it just doesn't happen at all."
Stangeland emphasised that changes in industry practices should be bolstered by political change.
"The building industry is embedded in systems that are stuck with old ways of doing things," she said. "If we are going to change systems, we also need to have help from from governments. You can't expect designers to do that job, it's a collective effort."
Importance of good design
Stangeland described how designing homes that people want to live will encourage a longer lifespan, leading to less resource and energy consumption.
"The best way of making something last is that we make something of value, and people want to take care of it," she said.
Siv Helene Stangeland, architect and Helen & Hard founder
Dixon added that "the best things you can do is make things not fashionable, make things that people will be able to reuse."
"You can build things in a more durable way and then find economic models where people can share them, or lease them or pass them around a bit more," he continued.
Alternative ways of living
The panel also discussed the ways in which buildings can be designed to encourage inhabitants to make more sustainable choices in their day-to-day lives.
Stangeland is a board member of Norwegian co-living developer Gaining by Sharing, and lives in its Vindmøllebakken community, which was designed by Helen & Hard.
"If we can live on a smaller footprint by sharing space and things and services, it will have a big impact," she said.
"[The success and popularity of the project] is proving that people are also willing to change quite a lot if they know that this is really making an impact."
"Instead of feeling that you are reducing something to cope with climate action, people are in fact feeling that they gained something because living in a community is really a rich and life full of opportunities and possibilities."
Each hour-long episode of the Climate Salon podcast will provide insight into how specialists across diverse disciplines can work in conjunction to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The series will also explore the role that technology can play in cutting down emissions, focussing on tools that are readily available to designers and engineers today.
Future episodes will explore topics like regenerative architecture, integrating nature into design processes, how designing for inclusivity is related to sustainability, and the potential of new green technologies.